whom do you think would castigate muslims in india for not going to pakistan? This is how you turn adverse situation into oppurtunities :-) http://timesofindia....ow/12648527.cms SRINAGAR: Tired of being found naked in his sleep every time soldiers searched his house during operations at the peak of militancy, Gulam Mohammad Mir, a farmer with no formal education, struck an idea to escape his tribulations. Mir, habitual to sleeping without clothes, developed a 'singing lantern', powered by a dry battery, fitted with a remote sensor that will alert him to human movement near his house in Sagaam village in Kokernag area of Anantnag district and give him enough time to dress up. The 48-year-old farmer, who recently participated at the innovators' meet at University of Kashmir, claims that the " singing lantern" has saved his life many times. Over the last 20 years, many Kashmiri men have been killed during nights when they ventured out of their homes without lanterns and walked into army ambushes. Many were beaten, simply, for not carrying the lantern. Mir knew the new ground rules well and was still beaten many times when the lantern's oil would not last the journey or when the winds would blow out the lantern's flame. It was when the idea stuck him of having a battery-powered lantern and after several visits to the market for raw material, he began assembling his battery-fitted lantern ready. Mir could have used a torch instead. "Torches were banned, soldiers could have mistaken a person with a torch as a militant. Traditional lantern would mean you are a civilian," he said. While spending his nights out in the field, irrigating them and guarding them, Mir felt that boredom needs to be done with. Soon he included the option of having a radio in the lantern and he would spend nights listening to Bollywood songs. "The basic and only reason that I innovated this lantern is the fighting that was going around. Militancy was widespread and there was huge pressure from Army," he said. One night, Mir was sleeping inside his house when soldiers barged in. Mir was found by soldiers without clothes and beaten again, he said. This led to another modification in the lantern - he included a motion sensor with a range of 15 feet, enough time to alert him. "When the soldiers came next time, I was alerted by an alarm and I already had my clothes on when they came," he said. Has his lantern saved him from beatings? "Yes," he said. "When soldiers would stop me, they would be surprised by seeing a different lantern, and then I would show them the radio in it. They would enjoy a song and let me go," Mir said. Today, Mir, with his humble farming background, is a proud owner of a lantern and a workshop at his home where he manufactures them for others. "I have so far sold 20 such lanterns. The one with full range of features costs Rs 2,800 rupees and another with lesser features costs Rs 1,600," he said. How could Mir with no technical knowledge of electronics fix circuits and come up with such a complex design. "I do not know, it became my passion and it simply worked out," he said. Shabir Ahmad, the technical officer at Grassroots innovation and Augmentation Network (GIAN) cell JK -- which provided "incubation" and research help to Mir in the later stage, said this lantern will help the traditional lantern to live on, "though in a different format". "Even today nearly, 80 per cent of Kashmir's population lives in villages, so this lantern has a wide market," Ahmad said. Mir now dreams of having his own manufacturing unit, where his life-saver lantern -- which went through a decade of modifications -- would be mass produced and sold to become a part of the household in rural Kashmir.

Of course 'Muslim' freedom fighters like Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Mohammad Ali and his brother Shaukat Ali , Ashfaqullah and others are honoured.Even Jinnahs earlier struggle against the britishers is recognised. The INA army of Bose had many Muslim soldiers, . For the matter Bahadur Shah Zafar is also honoured for leading the 1857 rebellion in which many muslims died. But the fact of the matter is when it was apparent that britishers wont remain for long,many of the Muslim leaders (none of the above)were bothered about demanding a nation based on their religion. If someone can foresee himself getting into a position of 'changing' the dynamics of the nation,the situation can be a big motivator. Muslims leaders then were in a position of influencing how the things turn out and they did. I dont consider Jinnah to have become a rabid communal person. He may have the good intentions for his community. Perhaps he didnt realise that his actions would not only influence the current generation,but also the future ones. Any nation carved in the name of religion would leave a distaste for other communities. Israel being another example.

Since pakistan itself can't have another entity carved out for kashmiris for strategic or whatever reasons, its foolish of the kind hearted pakistanis who have 'heartfelt' feelings for the kashmiris to expect India to allow a creation of another afghanistan/pakistan kind of state in the north. Nobody would want another 'headache' popper. And for people who think India is against Muslims when they crush Kashmiri insurgency,should check out that the same state also crushes Christian rebels in the north east or Hindu/Maoist rebels in the heartland or the now faded Sikh rebels who were vying for Khalistan. Point is when statecraft matters,the religion of the enemy within does not.

salam 2 questions.. Who wants another wahabi entity for the talebanis .. another pre-2002 afghanistan? Why does not pakistan declare their 'Azad Kashmir' really azad? Declare it as another country if you guys feel so strongly for a state for kashmiris. MA Jinnah did indeed fought against the britishers .. refer his biography by sarojini naidu (INC leader during freedom struggle).. but afterwards , he went on to demand a country on the basis of religion. Even today none of the educated pakistanis who support Kashmir say that it should be on the basis of religion. So just because he was right during the start of his career and is appreciated by many Indians for this,does not validate his thinking/actions afterwards.

http://tribune.com.p...kistan-for-mcc/ LONDON: Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) are contemplating a tour of Afghanistan indicating that a visit to the war-torn nation was more likely than a trip to neighbouring Pakistan, according to the club’s president. MCC, has played its part in supporting Afghan cricket by helping provide pitches in the capital Kabul, organising fixtures against the national side and coaching players. “I’m going to Afghanistan to look at Kabul and the cricket pitches we have put in,” MCC President Phillip Hodson told BBC. “Then I will go to Lahore as a private citizen. I think there’s much more chance of taking a team to Afghanistan than there is to Pakistan. I think we could do something in Afghanistan and I don’t think it will be long away.” Published in The Express Tribune, March 29th, 2012

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Implicating-ISI-in-terror-Headley-says-hatred-of-India-after-1971-war-drove-him-to-LeT/articleshow/8541662.cms CHICAGO/WASHINGTON: Hatred of India arising from Pakistan's defeat in the 1971 war drove him to the terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, David Coleman Headley, the Pakistani expatriate who involved in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack told a Chicago court on Monday while implicating Pakistan's spy agency ISI in nurturing terrorism. Headley, who took the stand as a prosecution witness on the opening day of the trial of his once close buddy Tahawwur Hussain Rana, told the court that he disliked Indians for "dismembering" Pakistan and was haunted by memories of his junior school being bombed. He and Rana shared room at a military boarding school where he said India and Indians were frequently discussed. He also mentioned that in the early speeches about Jihad, he heard it mentioned that, "one second conducting Jihad was equal to one hundred years of praying." Headley was still being questioned sequentially about his involvement in terror and the nexus between the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI and the terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba when the court broke for lunch, but his initial answers appeared to implicate ISI in planning and fostering terrorism. He chronologically mentioned his handlers in LET, including the others charged along with Rana, in a recent second superceding indictment, including Pasha, Kashmiri, Saajid and Major Iqbal. He also related various types of camps he attended in different regions of Pakistan, ranging from essential espionage, to arms training, surveillance training and hand to hand combat. "These groups operate under the umbrella of the ISI... They coordinate with each other," Headley told the court, recalling that one time, when he suggested that LeT sue the U.S government for designating it as a terrorist organization, LeT leader Zaki-ur Rehman said "he would have to consult the ISI." Headley also related how his LeT handler Ali took his phone number and told him that a "Major Iqbal" would be calling him about an operation in India. The prosecution case mentions a "Major Iqbal," believed to be a serving ISI officer, who is alleged to have coordinated the Mumbai attacks. Much of what Headley said is related in the prosecution's chargesheet but his elaboration under oath from the witness box puts Pakistan's terrorism sponsorship under the arclights. At many points during his testimony, Headley provided graphic details of his interactions with ISI and LeT personnel and their close ties. Headley spoke of attending LeT lunches with the organization's supremo Hafiz Saeed, currently under state protection, and operations commander "Zaki," presumably Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, currently under arrest. He said he told them he wanted to fight in Kashmir but "I was told they (LET) would find something better and more suitable for me." That assignment turned out to be scouting Mumbai for the 2008 terrorist attack. Wearing a casual grey jacket over a grey T-shirt, Headley began testifying after both the prosecution and the defense completed opening arguments that each lasted 45 minutes. In appearance, he looked more Caucasian than Pakistani, a fact that he himself remarked about when he spoke of the circumstances under which he changed his name. Headley said when he was arrested in 2005 near Peshawar, the Pakistanis did not believe him when he said he was one of them. "They thought I was a foreigner." Subsequently, prior to the Mumbai attack, he said he changed his name, under "Zaki's advice," so that "nobody would be able to tell I was a Muslim or a Pakistani." Earlier, maintaining that "not every player carries a weapon" in the terror game and supporters are equally as critical, the prosecution portrayed the defendant Rana as a maniacal plotter who was heard saying after the Mumbai carnage that the dead terrorists "should get Pakistan's highest military honor." But the defense responded with a picture of Rana as a model student who went on to medical school and served as a doctor in the army, even as Headley, previously known as Daood Gilani, went astray. "David Headley is a master manipulator who made a fool of Doctor Rana," defense attorney Charlie Swift maintained. Swift described Headley as "a master manipulator, manipulating three different organizations, the LeT, the ISI and the DEA (American Drug Enforcement Authority) all at the same time, while also manipulating several relationships and wives." Finally he sought to manipulate the government to secure his own life in return for 'betraying' Rana, he said, adding "Headley now needed a home run or a touchdown, so he changed his story and said Rana knew everything. The courtroom drama aside, disclosure of ISI-LeT nexus and their involvement in the Mumbai attack comes at a time Pakistan's role in terrorism is under worldwide scrutiny, particularly after the US elimination of Osama bin Laden, even as the country itself is under attack from terrorists it has allegedly fostered. Headley's initial testimony, as widely expected, is seen to have exposed Pakistan as a state perpetrator of terrorism, even though its people are also victims of the same menace.

This is so very true. If Pakistan gets in the hands of Taliban/Wahabis,it will spell doom for India. The extremists would attack India the very next moment to fulfill the Ghazbai Hind prophecy.. It is such a headache for the common man in India who has trouble making ends meet and now this constant threat of terror attacks. Why cant Pakistan attack and finish the terrorists with the help of US and Indian government? I wish,...

(salam) I hope India invests a lot more than the 1.5 billion (+ 500 million recently) in Afghanistan to improve the education , health and living standards of Afghans. It is what civil societies are expected to do to support their neighbours. If it results in heart burn for others.. why bother? :dry:

With the extremist right wing getting powerful in pakistan, if a person like Imran khan or some other extremist who support the Taliban in pakistan comes into power, such a scenario of US attacking pakistan could take place. Although its a scary scenario but with extremism growing in pakistan,it is a possibility. I would hope some level headed person comes in pakistan who leads the country towards moderation and progress. It will be a relief to the whole region and world.